ICY DOCK Community Blogs

ICY DOCK is a leading manufacturer of removable hard drive enclosures. Since our company has always been about the customers, we wanted to create an informal avenue for us to communicate with you! Hopefully, these blogs will provide you with insights and opinions about ICY DOCK products.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

The ToughArmor series have proven themselves to be an excellent 2.5” mobile rack solution, and now we are proud to present the external version of the ToughArmor family, the MB991U3-1SB. The MB991U3-1SB is a full metal 2.5” SATA III to USB 3.0 external HDD/SSD enclosure that is built with enterprise-grade quality and has the ability to hot-swap drives. With the removable EZ-Slide Mini tray, users can quickly swap 2.5” SATA hard drives or SSDs without shutting down their system or devices, saving valuable time. The EZ-Slide Mini tray accepts most of the 2.5” SATA HDD / SSD on the market ranging from 5mm to 15mm drive height. The drive tray slot is designed to complement a variety ToughArmor drive trays, allowing users to easily access their hard drives or SSD used in internal ToughArmor units externally, anytime and anywhere. The USB 3.0 interface allows for blazing fast transfer speeds and is backward compatible with USB 2.0 interface to insure compatibility with many systems. The ToughArmor MB991U3-1SB combined with the benefits of portable enclosure and enterprise-class features. It is an ideal enclosure for enterprise storage application such as SMB data backup, data recovery, video production data archiving, data transportation and IT Pros.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Dealing with physical dimension constrains is a key factor when designing a customized build such as portable, SFF( small form factor) desktop workstation, mobile DVR surveillance system, POS system, embedded system and in-flight entertainment system. Each computer component has to be minimized physically but must retain its functionally and purpose, such as the CPU for data processing, ram for temporary data retention and hard drives or SSDs for storage of critical data. However, accessibility of these components does not have to be compromised as well. For example, with the ICY DOCK ultra slim hot swappable SATA SSD / HDD mobile rack, MB411SPO-B, IT professional can easily install one of these units in a FDD or ODD slot of the SFF system yet retain a hard drive's hot swap capability. Users can easily swap out the drives from the front panel for backup, replacement, or simply accessing a different set of data. It is especially useful when installed in a rugged system because the MB411SPO-B is built with a full metal construction and can easily become complied with flammability requirement; it can be deployed in some of the toughest environments and keeps your critical data safe.

There are plenty of USB 3.0 external enclosures for 2.5” hard drives and solid state drives, but none of them have the drive interchangeability and solid drive protection of the ToughArmor MB991U3-1SB! Designed with functionality in mind, this ToughArmor allows for easy management of data on the move while providing a solid platform for holding those drives.

The ease of use and functionality of the ToughArmor MB991U3-1SB is reflected by the design of the drive tray system. It allows for easy swaps of hard drives or SSDs with different trays. With the tray system of the ToughArmor MB991U3-1SB, you click the hinge out, pull out the drive tray, insert a different drive tray, click it in and go, making a drive swap quick, easy and secure without the need of additional tools.

For an example, if a media professional who works for post productions on a Mac Pro 2016 and wishes to backup his/her critical data to an individual drive, he or she is able to use the MB991U3-1SB to transfer backup data to the desired hard drive or SSD and simply eject the drive and place it into a physical hard disk archive. On top of that, ToughArmor MB991U3-1SB supports UASP for enhanced performance for faster transfer speeds, saving valuable time for all the media professionals. Even if someone has to work with an older Mac or Windows system, the ToughArmor MB991U3-1SB is backward compatible and can still be used with systems with a USB 2.0 interface.

The ToughArmor MB991U3-1SB can accommodate 2.5”SATA HDD / SSD with 7 – 15mm height and it is compatible with any system that has a USB interface. It is definitely a little nifty kit for any professional who deal with large data transfers on a daily basis.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

The ToughArmor MB411SPO-B is designed amazingly slim and able to keep its size as small as 2.5” HDD, which makes it a complete space saver for any enterprise systems. This small form factor design allows MB411SPO-B to fit in any system that has tight space constraints such as mobile computers and embedded systems. It is also a great 2.5” mobile rack for any OEM / ODM systems that have space limitation, as system builders can easily configured their storage needs with MB411SPO-B, without wasting unnecessary space from the system.Product Page: http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=213

Monday, March 21, 2016

Data redundancy is important for a small business because drive failure does happen quiet often. Using RAID as data redundancy provides a fail-safe against hardware failure. Imagine the impact if you lost a day’s data, a week’s data, a year’s data due to hard drive failure. What would happen? How could you recover?

Many of the small business desktop computers are not equipped with RAID protection. These systems may offer simple RAID option on their motherboard, but it is not as reliable as standalone RAID protection device. However, it’s not an easy task to setup your own RAID system: First, you need available PCI-E slot for RAID controller card. Second, these controller cards are quiet costly. Therefore, at ICY DOCK we introduced the MB992SKR-B full metal dual bay RAID 2.5” SATA HDD & SSD mobile rack. It allows you to effortlessly add a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) option to your enterprise desktop computers without adding an additional RAID controller card. The MB992SKR-B fits 2 x 2.5” hard drive or SSD into a single 3.5” front device bay and it has a built-in high performance hardware RAID chipset. To add RAID protection to your system, simply insert 2 x 2.5” SATA hard drive or Solid State Drive to the MB992SKR-B and then connect the MB992SKR-B to the SATA port of your motherboard and then secure the MB992SKR-B onto the 3.5” front device bay and you are ready to go. The MB992SKR-B provides RAID 0 (stripping), RAID 1 (mirroring), BIG and JBOD modes, with hot-swap tray design and full metal body. The ToughArmor MB992SKR-B is an ideal storage device for any small business computers, SMB servers and enterprise workstation systems.

SSDs are clearly better than HDDs when it comes to performance. Since SSDs have become cheaper over the past few years and now 7mm height 2.5” SSD has reached 2TB storage capacity, it is quite possible that Solid-State-Drives may soon replace the traditional Hard-Disk-Drives.

If you are using a single or dual bay 2.5” mobile rack in your computer systems, it is a no brainer that you should, instead, go with ICY DOCK MB993SK-B triple bay full metal 2.5” HDD/SSD cage! The MB993SK-B fits 3 x 2.5” 7mm height SSD/HDD, occupies a single 3.5” front device bay only and allows you to squeeze up to total 6TB storage capacity without taking too much physical space from your system. All of this while retaining an easy to access cage for your drives that allows for easy drive swaps.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Utilizing its small form factor, The MB99SK-B is perfect for use in industrial PCs, SMB SFF servers, mobile DVR systems, or even home servers. The ability to house 3 x SATA SSD or HDD in a single 3.5” front device bay makes it a valuable asset, as several different configurations can be implemented. With three drives, users can access all drives individually, making a perfect solution for systems that are constantly swapping between multiple OS drives or simply for storage in a small space. Moreover, in a system with three drives, it is ideal to have RAID 5 setup to achieve its fast performance along with data protection or use two drives for RAID 1 mirror data-protection and RAID 0 for doubling the transfer speed. The remaining third drive can be assigned as stationary OS drive or an extra hot-swappable bay. To keep cables from cluttering, a single SATA 4 power pin is used to ease installation. Save as much as space while maintaining the speed and maximizing the functionalities in a limited space, which is the beauty of the MB993SK-B.

Monday, March 14, 2016

IcyDock has a wide lineup of hard drive accessories from the enthusiast-level ExpressCage series to the enterprise-oriented ToughArmor series. I’ve been reviewing the latter for years now and have been able to see the lineup mature from only a few units to a whole host of sizes and capacities.
Today I have two units for review: the new flagship MB998SP-B (http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=192) and an entry into the external storage accessories with the MB991U3-1SB (http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=188).

Device Overview and First Impressions
MB991U3-1SB

IcyDock’s external 2.5” USB3.0 solution targets the portable drive market. While it’s certainly larger and heavier than Vantec and Rosewill enclosures, it doesn’t require an external power source like the IcyDock Blizzard 3.5” drive enclosure. It also sports a Kensington lock slot if you're worried about the enclosure walking off, which is nice.
MB998SP-B

Back in 2012 when I first started reviewing IcyDock’s ToughArmor lineup, the MB994SP-1 was the big dog -- sporting a total of four 2.5” devices in a single 5.25” slot. However, in 2013 IcyDock launched an even beefier 6-unit model the MB996SP-6SB. And now we have the MB998SP-B to take the crown once again.

Tuesday, March 08, 2016

Today we have another Icy Dock product to look at, a triple bay 2.5” SAS/SATA HDD & SSD Mobile Rack for 3.5” front device bays called the Icy Dock MB993SK-B. At STH we have taken a look at several Icy Dock products with our latest review showing the Icy Dock ToughArmor EX MB491SKL-B. The Icy Dock ToughArmor MB993SK-B is perfect for cases that have an external 3.5″ bay that would otherwise sit idle, converting the bay to hold three 2.5″ SSDs. We do not see many rackmount servers with these slots anymore but there are a large number of workstation cases still out there that have provisions for an adapter like this. If your case has an 3.5″ knock out you can add the ToughArmor MB993SK-B Triple Bay 2.5” and install three SSD’s and RAID them up for a nice storage addition to your workstation....Read full article

Monday, February 29, 2016

As generation progresses, more and more advanced computer technologies are constantly improving. These improvements include maximizing enhanced functions in smaller and compact packages. This is why 2.5" solid state drives and hard drives are becoming more popular due to its low power consumption and space-saving benefits, which are superior to 3.5" SATA hard drives in almost every category. Combine with the extra bandwidth of the SSDs and the raw power of the processors; enterprises are able to accelerate their project-development process more efficiently. Since 2.5" SSDs and HDDs have smaller storage capacities compared to 3.5" hard drives, maximizing the storage density in limited spaces have become the most important task for many storage consulting firms; a task they often encounters. The ToughArmor MB993SK-B is designed specifically for systems with storage space limitations by fitting 3 x 2.5" SSD / HDD into a single 3.5" front device bay, maximizing the entire space of 3.5" device bay. On top of that, the MB993SK-B is built with heavy duty full metal construction which is commercially suitable for medical & military systems, government agencies, Industrial PCs, SMB workstations, VM workstations, mobile DVR systems, aerospace computers, automation systems and embedded systems.

Low
Profile Accessibility with Energy Efficiency

Utilizing its small form factor, The MB99SK-B is perfect for use in industrial PCs, SMB SFF servers, mobile DVR systems, or even home servers. The ability to house 3 x SATA SSD or HDD in a single 3.5" front device bay makes it a valuable asset, as several different configurations can be implemented. With three drives, users can access all drives individually, making a perfect solution for systems that are constantly swapping between multiple OS drives or simply for storage in a small space. Moreover, in a system with three drives, it is ideal to have RAID 5 setup to achieve its fast performance along with data protection or use two drives for RAID 1 mirror data-protection and RAID 0 for doubling the transfer speed. The remaining third drive can be assigned as stationary OS drive or an extra hot-swappable bay. To keep cables from cluttering, a single SATA 4 power pin is used to ease installation. Save as much as space while maintaining the speed and maximizing the functionalities in a limited space, which is the beauty of the MB993SK-B.

Protect your Investments

Making sure your drives are in good hands and lasting as long as possible is carefully considered to any enterprise build and design. The MB993SK-B is capable of holding up in the harshest environments, with the heavy duty metal construction in the entirety of the body and its smaller components. It can be used in various systems including: military and law enforcement deployment, as well as manufacturing conditions such as embedded control systems and factory automation systems. With the full metal design, the ToughArmor is perfect for industrial and medical devices that may require a flammability rating.

In order to fit three drives in a compact 3.5" device bay is challenging, the MB993SK-B is able to overcome this difficulty by carefully designing the EZ Slide Slim tray. With its durable and slim design, the trays are built with robust solid metal frames to securely mount and protect 7mm height HDD/SSD, creating a reliable 2.5" hot swap bay for any standard SATA hard drives and SSDs. The EZ Slide Slim trays make drive interchangeability experience and maintenance completely hassle free.

Versatile Utility & Security

The metal material used grants heat dissipation transfer from the hard drives to the mobile rack. Multi-Flow Technology (MFT) effectively routes air flow correctly for excellent passive cooling, via ventilation slots on the front, rear, top and bottom (in multiple locations). Lastly, Anti-Vibration Technology (AVT) and EMI Grounding are used to provide a stable environment for the hard drives or SSD's used to perform at its best.

The easy to read front LED indicators will indicate when a drive is ejected (no light), accessed (green), or has failed (red). Active Power Technology (APT) allows each drive LED to be on only when a hard drive is inserted into the enclosure. For drive security, the eagle-hook lock system on the tray makes sure your hard drives will not eject when not needed. Additionally, the 2 segment key lock provides extra protection to any physical theft of the hard drives, securing from any open and grab.